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Western Empire
The or , also called the , was an ancient empire that controlled much territory in a completely different continent to the west of the shinobi lands, during the era of the Sage of the Six Paths. Background The Western Empire was a very expansive and renowned world power across the ocean from the current shinobi lands, prior to the advent of ninjutsu and shinobi themselves. The empire's origins and how it came to acquire much territory are largely unknown, though it's rumored its expansion was halted by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki herself, implying it already existed during Kaguya's era and even that the empire might have tried to expand its borders overseas into the eastern lands. During this time, it had the symbol of a yellow sun with a red spiral and circle on the middle over a red background for its standard, which is said to have belonged to the empire's first ruling dynasty. Sometime after humans began to use chakra, shinobi uprisings began to take place all over the empire. It was during this time Saimei Ōtsutsuki's husband and current emperor was murdered at the hands of rebels, prompting his wife to ascend to the throne due to being childless. Using her superior Ōtsutsuki chakra, Saimei and her branded armies eventually crushed all the insurgents, restoring the empire to glory once more. After Saimei's ascension, the empire's standard was changed to a pattern composed of several magatama in a circle around three more circles decreasing in size towards the center, where two tomoe resided; this pattern was seen inside the same sun icon as the previous one in Saimei's armies' battle standards, though it was also seen without the sun icon in some occasions. After Saimei left for the eastern lands and ended up being sealed by her cousins and niece, the empire began to slowly crumble under its theocratic regency, essentially having long dissolved into several unaffiliated petty kingdoms by Naruto's age, to the point barely anyone besides fanatic historians recall its existence. Culture Due to having incorporated a large quantity of territories in the continent, the Western Empire is seen to have varied customs and practices spanned from several different cultures, including dress codes ranging from European to middle-eastern and Indian themed garbs, though gothic-themed clothing seemed to be a norm among nobles, especially those from the royal house. Saimei herself adopted a gothic dress in favor of her previous Ōtsutsuki clan kimono, while her husband wore clothing reminiscent of European princes with some gothic elements. Although religion didn't play a big part for the majority of the empire's existence, it quickly grew in popularity after Saimei's canonization as the first Child of the Prophecy and Savior of the World following Hagoromo's passing; however, it failed to hold the empire together for the following millennium in Saimei's absence from the throne. Nevertheless, a few more than a handful still firmly believe in their mistress's return to bring forth paradise on earth. Military Since the empire came into existence long before the advent of ninjutsu, all of its military was comprised of traditional medieval-themed soldiers, using swords, spears, halberds and bows, equipped with plate armor or chainmail for the most part. These practices were still kept in play even after the empire's armies adopted chakra for themselves during the shinobi insurgencies, thanks to Saimei's Juinjutsu; despite this, however, most of the soldiers only use a rudimentary form of ninjutsu, using their chakra mostly to enhance their physical condition rather than employing nature manipulation, though, a select few are capable of using fully-fledged ninjutsu comparable to a jōnin's mastery. Due to the side effects of bearing Saimei's cursed seal, many of the branded soldiers became unable to die, and essentially turned into undead holy warriors nicknamed the , forever in service of their empress until otherwise released. Trivia * The Western Empire bears some similarities to the real-life Roman Empire. Both are ancient and extensive empires considered world powers during their time, acquired much territory comprised of different peoples and cultures, and both eventually crumbled into non-existence. KTpjSvQgIMo Md-w-JP6sjg